By Erik Larson

EDIT 8/25/09: Deposition Video and Transcript Released! http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7374

Aug 8, 2009, Sibel Edmonds gave a sworn deposition in which she testified to her knowledge of treasonous crimes and corruption involving current and former members of Congress and State and Defense Dept. officials. Given the nature of the deposition, the lines of questioning focused on Turkish espionage and services obtained through bribery and blackmail by Turkish officials and proxies. However,Edmonds has previously disclosed that the corruption involving U.S. officials also includes money laundering, trafficking in drugs, arms and nuclear secrets, U.S. support for Bin Laden/Al Qaeda, and obstruction of FBI investigations related to 9/11, before and after the attacks; she said these things came up “briefly” during the deposition. Edmonds learned of these things from wiretaps she listened to while working as a translator for the FBI in 2001-2002. 

Video coverage from VelvetRevolution.us and BradBlog.com  

Edmonds' Aug 8 testimony was subpoenaed by David Krikorian (Democratic 2010 Congressional candidate- OH) to support his defense against a lawsuit brought by Jean Schmidt, R-OH. Krikorian had circulated a flier in his 2008 campaign in which he alleged that Schmidt had accepted “blood money” from Turkish interests in exchange for opposing a Congressional resolution acknowledging the Turkish genocide of Armenians in World War I. The deposition took place in Washington, DC at the headquarters of the National Whistleblower Center 

After the deposition, Edmonds took questions, and spoke in general terms about the deposition subjects (video, 13:25): 

Larson- “Were you able to talk about any of the stuff that you’ve said about 9/11 in the past- did any of that come up?” 

Edmonds- “We talked very briefly on Central Asia angle and 9/11 and the Mujahideen and Al Qaeda…and the role played by certain Turkish entities, so we talked briefly about that, yes, but mainly on the corruption U.S. persons, even in relation to those activities…it came up briefly.” 

Larson- “How about the stuff about nuclear trafficking, drug smuggling, arms trafficking?” 

Edmonds- “Yes, it came up- not in detail- Mr. Grossman’s name came up and Brewster-Jennings- I believe this is gonna be for the first time under Oath, on the record, people getting answer on Brewster-Jennings and the real story- not the crap that they got from the media.” 

It seems that while a great deal of new information came out in this deposition that will justify criminal investigations and widespread media coverage, Edmonds was witness to a great deal more that remains to be disclosed and properly investigated. 

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft had invoked the State Secrets privilege in 2002 to quash Sibel Edmonds’ lawsuit against the DOJ for suppression of her Right to speak freely about the crimes and corruption she had witnessed. He invoked the State Secrets privilege again in 2004 to prevent her from testifying in a case brought by family members of 9/11 victims, classified her date of birth and also retroactively classified letters from Sens. Grassley and Leahy that had been public for nearly 2 years (this was later overturned, when POGO, who had published the letters, sued the DOJ). The DOJ attempted to dissuade Edmonds testifying this time as well, but did not re-invoke the State Secrets privilege and did not appear at the deposition. 

No so-called “mainstream” print or broadcast media showed up to cover the deposition. Too bad for them, as Edmonds’ allegations reportedly include a juicy sex scandal involving a current Democratic Congresswoman- exactly the kind of thing the mainstream media loves to cover in depth ad nauseum. Given that these allegations intersect with allegations of treasonous activities by high-level figures in the Democrat and Republican establishment, it seems unlikely the corporate media will report on this, even when the video and transcript are made public. 

One mainstream media outlet did acknowledge that the deposition would be happening:

Ex-FBI Translator Tests Justice Dept. Again – CQPolitics.com 

Several U.S. and Armenian independent media stayed until the press conference following the deposition, and will be covering further developments: 

The event was reported on in advance and live blogged by Brad Friedman of BradBlog.com; Friedman interviewed participants by cell phone with the help of on-site associates, who also took video and photos. 

8/8/09: LIVE BLOG: Deposition of Sibel Edmonds Completed, DoJ a 'No Show,' Bombshells Under Oath

8/7/09: EXCLUSIVE: FBI Attempts to Block Edmonds Testimony in OH Election Case

8/7/09: EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: DoJ Pressures Ohio Election Commission to Block Edmonds Testimony

8/5/09: Sibel Edmonds Subpoenaed, Set to 'Break' Gag Order 

Drawn to the event by Krikorian’s campaign-related battles with Schmidt and Edmonds’ reports of Turkish efforts to prevent U.S. acknowledgement of Turkey’s genocide of Armenians, but also interested in the extent of corruption were Horizon Armenian TV, The Armenian Reporter andArmenian Public TV.

Andrew Krieg covered the event for HuffingtonPost.com:

Gagged Former FBI Translator Claims U.S. Rep Bribe Evidence 

In response to my (and Brad Friedman’s) questions after the deposition (video, 16:10), about when the entire video and transcript of the deposition would be made public, David Krikorian said his first priority was defending himself against Schmidt’s lawsuit, and that he needed to confer with his legal and political teams about the timing. He also stated, “I think that the information that was provided in this testimony is something that every American Citizen should be aware of…. What I heard in that deposition room is fairly troubling information…. I don’t see any reason to not make it public.” 

David Krikorian said, quoted by Brad Friedman:

“From my opinion, if I'm some of the current members of Congress, I'd be very very worried about the information that's going to come out of this. There are current members of Congress that she has implicated in bribery, espionage. It's not good. It's crazy, it's absolutely crazy. For people in power situations in the United States, who know about this information, if they don't take action against it, in my opinion, it's negligence.” 

Regardless of whether the Obama Administration or the Democrat-controlled Congress want to investigate evidence of treason by Democrats and Republicans, and regardless of whether the corporate “news” media are inclined to report on any of this, public opinion and action organized through word of mouth and the web have the power to compel public servants to follow the law, as well as turn this into a story the corporate media can’t ignore.